Friday, February 26, 2010

This is a great Nouwen quote that seems appropriate to ponder on my birthday. A mile mark, providing an opportunity to reflect on the past in hopes to live in the present more fully.

"O Lord, life passes by swiftly. Events that a few years ago kept me totally preoccupied have now become vague memories; conflicts that a few months ago seemed so crucial in my life now seem futile and hardly worth the energy; inner turmoil that robbed me of my sleep only a few weeks ago has now become a strange emotion of the past; books that filled me with amazement a few days ago now do not seem as important; thoughts which kept my mind captive only a few hours ago, have now lost their power and have been replaced by others.

Why is it so hard to learn from this insight? Why am I continuously trapped by a sense of urgency and emergency? Why do I not see that you are eternal, that your kingdom lasts forever, and that for you a thousand years are like one day? O Lord, let me enter into your presence and there taste the eternal, timeless, everlasting love with which you invite me to let go of my time-bound anxieties, fears, preoccupations, and worries. "Seek first the Kingdom," you said, "and all these other things will be given you as well." All that is timebound will show its real meaning when I can look at it from the place where you want me to be, the place of undying love."

Don't confuse the title as a conspiracy theory. I'm referring to two separate and unrelated (maybe) news items. Read on to see those, and other engaging news items from the last week. I encourage you to share your thoughts and opinions.

The National Archives in the United Kingdom began the declassification of UFO documents back in 2008. Now the are up to sitings that have occurred in the last 20 years. Pretty interesting stuff if that kind of stuff tickles your fancy.

A BBC article about PleaseRobMe serves as a timely reminder that some information (such as when you are on vacation for a week and your house is unattended) is better kept private in the age of social networking.

Lengthy, but fascinating, suicide letter left by the guy who flew his plane into the federal tax office. This is by no way condoning his actions. I find it stimulating to engage radical ideas and conflicting world views. It makes you uncomfortable and forces you to dig deeper and think through why you believe what you believe.

Another great BBC article on how the UK is wrestling through the danger of premature sexualization of children through the media, products, and advertising. My favorite quote calls out adults to own up and take responsibility:

"The evidence shows that adults feel children are more materialistic than in past generations.

"Children themselves tell us that they value family and friends above money, but feel under pressure to keep up with the latest trends.

"We need a significant change at the heart of society, where adults stand up for better values."

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Spending beyond our means since the 1980's. Don't you think we need to collectively reevaluate our lifestyles when we have imported more - in the order of tens of billions - than we have exported for the last three decades? (Source: Mint.com)

Saturday, February 13, 2010

My friend is seeking to "rub the rust off religious words". Quite the task. I recently started following his blog "Everyday Doctrine". Here he tackles "Confession", a sample of the great content you will find there.

For the last few weeks I've been asking people what images come to mind when they hear the word confession. As it turns out, the word confession elicits a mixed bag of mental images for most people. For some, this word conjures up the image of a Catholic priest in a confessional booth,

'Forgive me father I have sinned.'

For others, the word brings to mind television clips of CEO’s, presidents and public officials airing their indiscretions,

'I did not have sexual relations with that woman.'

It’s no wonder then that, for many, the word confession feels a bit…well…dirty. However, for those who are seeking to pray as Jesus taught, confession is not a dirty word…it’s a daily word.

“Father, hallowed be your name.Your kingdom come.

Give us each day our daily bread,and forgive us our sins…” [Lk 11:2-4]

Did you catch that? Right after line about daily bread Jesus adds “and forgive us our sins”—which is a bit surprising. It’s almost as if Jesus expects confession to be a daily thing for his followers. I wonder what it would be like if Christians actually confessed their sins each day as they prayed. The way Jesus taught.

I imagine that married people would kiss and make love more often...

Because they wouldn't keep anything to themselves.

Parents would ask their children for forgiveness a lot...

Because even great parents get it wrong a lot.

Self-righteous people would be more gracious...

Because inside they'd know they need grace too.

People that sell anti-depressants would probably sell fewer pills...

They might even stop making commercials about pills that solve your problems...

Because people would bring their problems to God each day.

It would be a beautiful thing... If Christians actually prayed the way Jesus taught.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

"I increasingly got the sensation that there is a connection between our wealth and their poverty," he said in responses to feelings of guilt that arose while on gliding trips in South America and Africa.

"It was the biggest shock in my life, when I realized how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five star lifestyle is," he said. "In those three weeks, (on a recent vacation in Hawaii) we spent all the money you could possibly spend. But in all that time, we had the feeling we hadn't met a single real person - that we were all just actors. The staff played the role of being friendly and the guests played the role of being important and nobody was real."

"Despite making millions through furnishings and accessories, owning a 3,500 square foot villa in the Alps, and driving around in a luxury Audi A8, he had never been more miserable. Rabeder has now found something that gives his life much more meaning. He's giving it all away." (Huffington Post)

''For a long time I believed that more wealth and luxury automatically meant more happiness. I come from a very poor family where the rules were to work more to achieve more material things, and I applied this for many years.''

But over time a conflicting feeling developed. ''More and more I heard the words: 'Stop what you are doing now - all this luxury and consumerism - and start your real life'. I had the feeling I was working as a slave for things that I did not wish for or need.''

For many years, he said, he was not brave enough to give up his comforts. The tipping point came during a three-week holiday with his wife in Hawaii.

''It was the biggest shock in my life when I realized how horrible, soulless and without feeling the five-star lifestyle is.'...

Since deciding to sell up, Mr Rabeder said he had felt ''free, the opposite of heavy''. But he did not judge those who chose to keep their wealth. ''I do not have the right to give any other person advice. I was just listening to the voice of my heart and soul.'' (Theage.com.au)

Now he has given him a monthly wage of just over $1,000 and put the rest of his $4+ million towards mymicrocredit.org.

There is an interesting chart that reveals complaints filed against Toyota to the NHTSA has increased by 5x over the last decade while the actual number of cars they are putting on the road has increased by only 2x.

It's hard to deny the gap between perception and reality that has dominated the auto industry over the last decade.

Tuesday, February 09, 2010

Spending hours on social networking is easier then other forms of human interaction and it's possible to find flares of satisfaction as long as I maintain a steady rate of hit's on Facebook and Twitter. Is this a better way to live?

Yet we don't ask this question, much less have an answer, and we will all flock to be a part of the latest social network: Google Buzz.

Cool, huh?

Surprisingly, especially to myself, this news was recieved as a burden and not with excitement. I worry how various social networks spread us increasingly thin and the end result is not better relationships and deeper community - instead we get a reduction and simplification of sterile communication.

It has become increasingly taxing to keep tabs on everything. I ejected Myspace years ago to focus on Facebook, and have done everything I can to integrate it with Blogger and Twitter.

That being said, I am a die-hard gmail fan and it will be nice to have integration. Even here I have reservations. Compared to email, I have found that people are even less likely to respond to a deep thought on Facebook (because FB is not perceived as a place for deep interaction). Buzz could cause more and more people to perceive their gmail account as a quick fix for social interaction as well.

I find myself being more and more skeptical of where we are going with the internet. Such potential for effective communication and collaboration, but I spend so much on mindless banter.

I feel confident that I will enjoy Buzz, but I am even more confident it will do nothing to turn the tide of this mounting frustration with the dilution of meaningful relationship, community, and communication.

Japanese government demands an investigation of a faulty electrical system in the brakes of the 2010 Prius after 14 complaints in Japan and 136 complaints in the U.S. (NYT)

The U.S. Transportation Secretary states that it "took an enormous amount of effort" for the U.S. to "force" Toyota to do the safety recall related to the faulty accelerator, referring to them as "a little safety deaf". (Free Press)

Steve Wozniak states that his new Prius has a "scary" repeatable software glitch affecting the accelerator that neither Toyota or the NHTSA has responded to his request for investigation. (CNET)

All that to say, it seems that Toyota's nightmare is far from over.

This is turning in to such a convoluted mess. Poor floor mat design, mechanical failure, faulty electrical system, and software glitches all affecting some millions of Toyota's newest and most popular models. Someone is loosing their job.

Tuesday, February 02, 2010

These are the type of questions that one of Britain's most senior family lawyers, Baroness Deech, has been asking in a series of speeches. (BBC)

I find this one particularly engaging. We have many laws and enforcement in place to ensure parents and grandparents are properly caring for their children when they are in a physically and emotionally dependent state, but why does this not reverse as parents and grandparents become physically and emotionally dependent?

In Singapore "anyone over 60 who is unable to maintain themselves adequately can apply for an order that their child should do so via periodical payments or a lump sum". Baroness Deech proposes a "granny tax" to pay grandparents who provide child care to their grandchildren.

I feel both of these solutions fall severely short of confronting the issue.

"Avatar," despite topping the worldwide gross list it is only No. 21 on the ticket sales list with 79,859,600 sold to date. We'll have to see where it stands at the end of it's run, but it still has a ways to go.

If you base box office success on monetary profit, then not only do you have to deal with inflation, but you also have to deal with the fact that 3D movies cost significantly more per ticket then traditional movies.